Baripada, Feb. 5: A teenager, who had spread rumours of his girl friend being kidnapped, was arrested on Tuesday.

The boy, Hemanta Bindhani, 19, raised an alarm last evening at Kainphulia area, around 7km from here, saying a group of six to seven persons had kidnapped his 17-year-old girl friend while they were returning to Baripada from Deuli on a motorcycle.

Police sources said Hemanta had claimed the kidnappers were hiding inside an abandoned house and stopped their vehicle near Kainphulia Square.

He claimed he was beaten up and the goons forcibly took the victim away and disappeared.

Based on Hemanta’s claims, the police was informed and around 200 villagers conducted a search along with the cops, but the girl could not be found.

Thereafter, the girl’s uncle lodged a complaint with the local police accusing Hemanta of masterminding the kidnap. “We held him along with one of his associates,” said inspector in charge of Baripada Sadar police station, Minati Biswal.

Interestingly, the girl was found at her house in Kukudasolo village early this morning. Sub-divisional police officer Sudhakar Jena said the accused and victim knew each other for a long time and he picked her up from her house yesterday on the pretext of taking her to a relative’s place in Deuli.

“The boy intended to take her to an isolated place near Kainphulia. Perhaps he had some ill intentions in mind. But a group of people raised an alarm. While the girl ran all the way home, the boy misled the local people and police saying she was kidnapped,” said Jena, adding that a case had been registered against Hemanta.

“The girl denied being sexually assaulted by anyone. Therefore, we didn’t conduct a medical examination on her,” said Biswal.